Using Shellfish to Prolong Shelf-life: CuanTec’s Answer to Plastic
BY ALLY HUGHES
Every year 8.8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into our seas which has a devastating impact on marine wildlife. CuanTec is a Scottish marine biotechnology company with an innovative answer to the plastic problem through their food-safe packaging made from langoustine shells. Not only is CuanSave compostable but it also extends the shelf-life of food products due to its anti-microbial properties!
The company began as an idea shared by two researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow before being established as a company in 2016, with Dr. Cait Murray-Green as the CEO. At CuanTec, they extract chitin from langoustine shells and convert it to chitosan through deacetylation. Now, producing chitosan from langoustine shells is hardly novel as chitin was first discovered by Hatchett in 1779 and its main derivative, chitosan, was described in 1859 with the work of Rouget. Throughout history minor changes have been in the process of extracting and converting chitin to chitosan, however all of them use harsh chemicals and are energy intensive. CuanTec’s approach is unique in that they use an enzymatic process to convert chitin to chitosan which uses five times less sodium hydroxide than traditional methods. Furthermore, their main by-product is a protein rich liquid which can be used as a feed for aquaculture. This creates a zero-waste process which is environmentally friendly.
A. Langoustine, B. Fermentation of extracted chitin, C. chitin and chitosan hydrochloride, D. prototype salmon packaging.
CuanTec’s circular economy business model is truly innovative and what all companies should be considering as we strive for a more sustainable economy. They source some of their langoustine shells from restaurants in Scotland, turning one man’s waste into another man’s treasure (starting material) and their “waste” then becomes a valuable nutrient source for fish farms. Due to the fact that chitosan has anti-microbial properties that inhibit the growth of fish pathogens such as Vibrio and Salmonella, their product actually extends the shelf life of the seafood which they package. At each stage in this cycle there is a reduction in waste. And as if all of this wasn’t enough, CuanSave is 100% compostable in your home compost! No need for anaerobic digesters, just chuck it in your compost bin with the rest of your food scraps and allow the biopolymer to return to nature.
They have recently received funding from a Sky Ocean Ventures initiative which will help them begin production in their pilot facility in the highlands of Scotland early next year. They have partnered with Waitrose, a large supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, to help bring CuanSave to the shelves in 2021. If you would like to learn more about their product and the excellent team behind all of this, visit www.cuantec.com or follow them on social media; @CuanTec on Twitter, CuanTecResearch on Facebook, and CuanTec on LinkedIn.
Thank you to Paula Duffy, Marketing Assistant at CuanTec, for allowing us to interview her for this article.